Martha Days

Oh, my. I might be officially addicted. I keep sneaking back to this blog every few hours to check for comments. They might be my new love language.

Yesterday I did not post because I spent from 12:00 noon to 7:00 last night running errands. That's right. Seven. Hours. I just about came unglued, people. Unglued. At 9:00 last night, I was fast asleep. Ten hours later, I got up and made these:

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
2 T. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110*to 115*)
4 eggs
1 cup shortening
1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup warm milk (110* to 115*)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup instant vanilla pudding mix
1/3 cup instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 tsp salt
7-8 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
Icing:
3 T water
2T butter, softened
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the next nine ingredients and 6 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough. It will be sticky.
Turn onto a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down and divide in half. Roil out each portion into a 12x8 rectangle.
Brush with butter. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top of dough. Roll up jelly-roll fashion, starting on a long edge. Cut into 12 slices. Place cut side down in two greased 13x9 inch pans. cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350* for 22-28 minutes or until golden brown. In a small mixing bowl, combine the water, butter, and cinnamon. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Spread over buns. Serve warm.

You will need 10 hours of sleep to attempt these. They are my husband's love language. After being the unglued mom yesterday, I owed them to my family. They might make even the non-Southerners among us beside themselves. Try them if you really want to impress your family over the holidays...or if you need to earn brownie points after going over the edge.

I was overrun with errands because we are hosting our church's praise team for supper Friday night. Fourteen people will be eating at my house. Fourteen. People. Tomorrow I'll attempt my first picture post of all the marvelous fall decor my girls and I created today. Eventually, I will have something profound to write about, but yesterday and today were Martha days. My goal tomorrow is to be a Mary, and enjoy sweet fellowship with our guests.

Praying for Mary moments for you this weekend as well.

Ginger